Background of Artist Rudolf Stingel’s Palazzo Grassi Exhibit

The carpets were meant to remind visitors of the city’s past. The idea came from Sigmund Freud’s study in Vienna. Freud’s study has different Oriental carpets draped on furniture, on tables, walls, and covering almost the entire floor. Stingel took the pattern for the carpet at the Palazzo Grassi from one of the carpets on the floor of Sigmund Freud’s study. This gave the room a sense of containment. Thus, the architectural space becomes one of inner space and meditation. Entering the space created a suspension of the outer world for a time.

“Legal personhood” does not usually grant a non-human entity the same rights as a homo sapien. Even in the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial decisions granting personhood to corporations — in cases like Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission, when the Court sanctioned unlimited campaign donations from corporations — the designation is a limited one. Corporations don’t have a right to privacy, for example, or a right against self-incrimination. So it would surely be with a black gum.

First, the tree’s plot of land – just several square feet, currently owned by CCAC – must be transferred to the PLTP. (This could happen soon.) The group will then begin its efforts to lobby for personhood, perhaps at the municipal level, or the state level if need be. If personhood is granted, the next step would be creating a limited-liability corporation with the tree as the sole shareholder. Long-term, that entity would generate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that could be sold to finance the tree’s care and perhaps even its legal expenses.